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Iroegbu Gives Essential Tips for Increasing Email Open Rates

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Kanu Iroegbu, a certified digital marketing consultant
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Are your email response rates dropping? Are your open rates getting worrisome? If you’re feeling discouraged, don’t be.

Kanu Iroegbu , certified digital marketing consultant sets good news podium teaching practical steps one can take to improve his open rates.

Here are ten tips to try:
1. Set the Right Expectations
Nothing will harm your email marketing open rates faster than failing to deliver what you promised. If you tell your blog readers that your email newsletter will provide behind-the-scenes info, then behind-the-scenes info better be what you give.
 This is what they’ll be expecting, and this is why they agreed to subscribe in the first place. Use your site’s Subscribe page to clearly explain what your newsletters offer. This way, the people who sign up will be interested in what you provide, and thus they’ll be more likely to click through to the emails that come.

2. Make Your Subject Line Short
Ideally, your email subject line should be short-easy enough to be read at a glance. Different email providers will display different lengths of text, so longer subject lines have a higher chance of being cut off. To ensure the greatest number of readers see your subject, aim to keep it under 50 characters or so.

3. Make Your Subject Line Intriguing
Assuming you have an engaged audience that is interested in what you have to say, the next best step to achieving better response rates is good subject lines.
The subject line is what appears in a recipient’s inbox, inviting him or her to click. It gets a few seconds of attention before being opened or deleted. So that’s why the best subject lines offer something of value, for minimum risk.
They give the recipient a sense that clicking through to the actual email newsletter will deliver something worthwhile.
What are some examples of intriguing newsletter titles? To put it simply, readers like subject lines that identify your brand, hint at the content inside, and have something to offer them.
For readers who want to stay updated with your company, for example, consider the following examples, written for the (fictional) company Good Deals: October Update on Good Deals; Good Deals October 2013 Newsletter; Good Deals Newsletter #15: October 2013 Edition;Good Deals Invites You to Our Grand Opening!; Upcoming Events at Good Deals; Good Deals Fall Updates; and 20% Off Good Deals Merchandise Now

In every example, the subject line tells the reader what the email is about, identifies the content as from Good Deals, and gives a reason to click.

4. Don’t Be Overly Promotional
According to Constant Contact, it’s a good idea to balance your newsletter content to be 90% educational and 10% promotional.
This means that, sure, you want to tell your audience about your new product or feature, but don’t let that be all you do.
Your newsletter should be more than a sales brochure-it should be an interesting resource. Ask yourself what you can give your readers beyond a catalog, and work that into your content.

5. Send It at the Best Time
You know what they say: “Timing is everything.” The timing of when you send your newsletter may affect how readers respond to it.
Test different schedules to see how your audience responds-while this may differ for various industries, according to the Whole Whale blog, there is evidence that “weekdays outperform weekends, with Tuesday-Thursdays performing the best.”

6. Be Honest about Email Content
Just like your Subscribe page should accurately describe your email content, so should your newsletter subject line.
If a reader clicks the “Big Company News October 2013” email only to find a story from last month, he or she might not click through the next month’s letter. Or worse, he or she might unsubscribe.

7. Avoid Spam Signals Like ALL CAPS and Exclamation Marks!!!
Everybody’s got spam radar these days. Who hasn’t received an email from an overseas prince asking for money?
Because of this, readers are more cynical-and this means they’re looking at your email newsletter with caution, at least the first time they see it. To help build credibility and keep yourself from looking like a spammer, avoid spam giveaways like writing in all capital letters or using multiple exclamation marks.

8. Avoid Salesy Language
Words like “exciting,” “leading,” and “ultimate” tend to sound salesy. Readers see them and think advertising.
So to keep from getting deleted, make your subject lines benefit-driven rather than sales-focused.

9. Consider a Negative Subject Line
“People will always work harder to keep something they have rather than try to gain something that they want,” says Sean Platt at Copyblogger.
 That’s why negative headlines can be so powerful-they alert your readers to potential problems they could protect themselves against. Here are a few examples: Five Reasons You Won’t Want to Miss This Weekend Sale; Good Deals Update: Are You Making These Shopping Mistakes?

4 Things You Might Be Missing on Our New Blog

10. Optimize for Mobile Devices
A large percentage of your readers will receive your email newsletter while they’re on their mobile devices.
Consider how your email newsletter will appear on a mobile device. Before sending it out to your entire list, send a test version to your own email. Check for display problems, broken links, and so on.


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Nigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa

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Cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has once again warned that sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target Africa as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) escalate across the region.

Speaking at the company’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, the cybersecurity firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team highlighted growing digital threats affecting African nations.

Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa emerged as hotspots, with Kenya recording one of the highest web threat incident rates at 20.1% in first quarter 2025.

“While ransomware is less prevalent in Africa due to lower levels of digitisation and economic constraints, countries like South Africa and Nigeria are seeing a sharp rise in attacks,” said Sergey Lozhkin, head of META and APAC regions at Kaspersky.

Kaspersky noted a 0.01 percentage point increase in African ransomware cases year-on-year, reaching 0.41%, still below global and Middle Eastern averages, but a troubling sign for the continent’s emerging digital infrastructure.

Experts warned that attackers are refining their tactics, shifting focus to unconventional entry points like IoT devices, smart appliances, and misconfigured hardware.

“As these economies expand digitally, sectors such as manufacturing, finance and government are becoming key targets,” said Lozhkin

The cyber-crime landscape is evolving quickly, fuelled by AI tools and dark web access to large language models, which enable less skilled actors to launch convincing phishing and malware campaigns.

Groups like FunkSec, which uses AI-generated code and a low-cost ransom model, are redefining ransomware operations.

“African organisations face the dual challenge of expanding digital footprints and limited cybersecurity awareness. This makes layered defense strategies, including network segmentation, real-time monitoring and regular staff training, essential,” stated Lozhkin

Kaspersky continues to monitor 25 active APT groups in the META region, including SideWinder and MuddyWater, some of which are known to target African institutions.

To bolster defenses, the firm recommends using tools such as its free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business and the Kaspersky Next suite for threat visibility and response.

 


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Nigeria Launches Cybercrime Team with Commonwealth, UK Support

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Nigeria recently launched a new joint case team to step up its response to cybercrimes that affect people and businesses at home and abroad.

Nigeria Launches Cybercrime Team with Commonwealth, UK Support

The ‘Joint Case Team on Cybercrime’ brings together Nigeria’s key justice and security agencies to work as one, making it easier to detect, investigate, and prosecute digital offences.

It is supported by the UK National Crime Agency, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, as part of a wider effort to promote international cooperation on cybercrime.

Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, minister of justice and attorney general of the federation described the initiative as “a bold and transformative stride in Nigeria’s justice system.”

He said that although Nigeria has a national legal framework to address cyber offences, laws alone are not enough.

Nigeria is among the countries most affected by cybercrime around the world, with increasing financial losses.


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INEC Sets Up AI Division to Strengthen Electoral System

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Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the establishment of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Division within its ICT Department.

INEC Sets Up AI Division to Strengthen Electoral System

This marks a significant stride toward enhancing electoral integrity, efficiency, and innovation in Nigeria’s democratic process.

This decision was reached at the Commission’s regular weekly meeting held in Abuja, following a series of consultations and engagements on the global and continental impact of AI on elections.

In a statement issued by Sam Olumekun, national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC underscored that the growing relevance of AI in electoral matters necessitated a proactive institutional framework to manage both the risks and opportunities it presents.

“Our interactions with electoral bodies across Africa highlighted both the risks of AI—such as fake news and content manipulation—and the vast potential it holds for data-driven decision-making, risk mitigation, automated voter services, and geo-spatial intelligence for logistics,” Olumekun noted.

According to him, the newly created division will centralise the Commission’s AI efforts, ensuring a harmonized approach to deploying intelligent systems that enhance decision-making, improve voter engagement, and boost the credibility of the electoral process.

“The creation of this division puts the Commission at the forefront of institutionalizing AI capabilities in electoral management.

It is also part of our ongoing reforms in areas where administrative action is sufficient to drive change,” he said.

He added that the AI Division will help INEC better coordinate its existing technological investments while providing safeguards against the misuse of AI technologies.

“We are positioning ourselves to maximise the positive impact of AI while mitigating its negative implications. This step strengthens the credibility and transparency of elections in Nigeria,” Olumekun concluded.

The initiative, INEC emphasised, reflects its commitment to embracing innovation in safeguarding democracy and improving electoral services nationwide.

 

 

 

 


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